Black Siudek
by Bedbug24
Summary: There's a new creature at Mossflower Wood. Who is he? Where did he come from? What does he want?
1. Prologue

            Tarnell the otter splashed onto the bank of the River Moss; her attempt to catch a crafty grayling had failed.  The young otter shook off droplets of water from her dark brown fur, the movement starting from the head and working its way all the way down to the tail.  When the excess river water had shaken off, Tarnell scampered off towards the direction of Redwall, heading upstream.  The summer sun shone merrily upon Mossflower Woods as the river gurgled happily beside the otter.  She began to skip without a care in the world, even though the fish she'd been trying to catch earlier now swam freely in open water.  She would try again later, but not now.  Not in such a perfect moment as this.

            Suddenly, the otter came to a halt, nose and whiskers twitching.  Tarnell sniffed at the breeze headed her way, a curious scent riding upon it.  She couldn't make out what it was, though it was indeed some creature.  Not mouse, nor rat, nor shrew, nor badger.  No woodland creature had that scent anywhere in Mossflower.  Puzzled, the otter stood still as a statue, trying to make sense of the odor.

            Then her eyes saw what her nose couldn't.  Making its way through the brush, not one hundred yards away from the otter, was a horse.  Its black coat was dusty and scraggly, the mane and tail covered in brambles.  Tarnell sniffed again at the odd creature and found that it was, indeed, a stallion.  Curiosity was fading, and Tarnell wondered whether to be frightened of the great beast or to welcome him as a possible ally.  She stood stock still as the black plodded towards the River Moss and waded in until the cool waters ran over his knees.  He drank deeply for a minutes on end before stopping for a breath.  To Tarnell, it seemed like an eternity.  

            The breeze shifted so that the horse was downwind of the otter.  The scent of the woodlander flew into his nostrils and suddenly, the great brown eyes were upon the young otter.  Her legs shook from the exertion of standing still for such a long time, but Tarnell remained upright, staring without fear into the eyes of the black.

            "I am Tarnell of Redwall.  Who may you be?" she asked, her voice loud and clear.

            The stallion gave no answer, merely standing there in the river, staring at the otter.  The eyes gave no emotion, no hint as to what the beast thought.  Moments passed.  Tarnell began to feel uneasy.

            "I say, who may you be?" she repeated.

            In a flurry of water and hooves, the stallion turned in one swift movement and dashed up the bank and into Mossflower Woods, leaving behind him a very bewildered river otter.


	2. Chapter 1

            Cornflower looked up at the beautiful blue summer sky and smiled to herself as the sun shone warmly on her face.  Closing her eyes, she smiled to herself and then turned to look at Matthias, who sat beside her in the grass outside the Abbey walls.  The warrior mouse was nearly asleep in the warm afternoon sun.  Cornflower lay down on her side and whispered in her husband's ear.

            "Matthias, wake up."

            Slowly, he opened his eyes and was presented with the sight of his beautiful Cornflower.  A smile played across his lips, his face softening.

            "Good morning to you, too, dear," he said softly, sitting up.  He stretched and looked up at the sun.  "Oh… sorry.  Afternoon, isn't it?"

            Cornflower smiled and placed a paw on Matthias' shoulder.  "Sorry to wake you, sleeping beauty, but I thought we should go in.  It's going to rain soon."

            Giving the mouse a puzzled look, Matthias looked up at the sky.  A few fluffy clouds drifted by lazily.  The warrior mouse looked back at Cornflower.

            "Doesn't look like rain, does it?" he asked her in a challenge.

            "No, but smell the air, Matthias.  Smells like rain," Cornflower answered.

            After a half-hearted sniff, Matthias settled back into the grass.  His slightly stubborn nature and his annoyance at being awakened had convinced him that Cornflower was simply playing a joke.  "Your sense of smell must be going, my love.  If it were going to rain, my tail would already be back in Redwall."

            Cornflower stood up, straightening her dress with a knowing look in her eye.  "Well, do as you like, Matthias.  I'm going to go start supper."  She strode off, leaving him alone.

            Minutes later, Matthias came running into the gatehouse cottage with a loud slam of the door behind him.  Cornflower stood by the wood stove, baking bread loaves for the supper.  When she heard Matthias rushing in, she turned and laughed out loud.  The warrior mouse stood before his wife, dripping from head to toe with rain.  At Cornflower's amused laugh, Matthias grinned sheepishly.

            "I'm going to, er, change," he mumbled as he slipped past Cornflower.  She smiled, shaking her head.

            "I swear I love him, but sometimes I just can't help but wonder about that mouse."

            Her soft chuckle was interrupted by a knock at the door.  Turning from the stove, Cornflower made her way to the door, but there was no need to open it.  Martin came bursting in from the outside with Tess calling to him, "Martin!  Get back and wipe those paws!"

            Paying no attention to his mother's command, the young mouse leaped into his grandmother's arms, muddy paws and all.  They shared an embrace before Cornflower set her grandson back down.  Mattimeo set down a large leaf that had served as an umbrella, walked over to Cornflower and shared greetings as Tess took Martin back to wipe his paws.  As they came back, Matthias entered the room.  Martin rushed to his beloved grandfather and was welcomed with open arms.

            "Papa Matthias!" he shouted with joy as the warrior mouse picked up his grandson and twirled him around effortlessly.  Martin laughed and continued laughing as Matthias set him down to greet Tess and Mattimeo.  Martin was terribly fond of his Papa Matthias and loved hearing him tell old stories of Mossflower.  He also loved Grandma Cornflower's infamous cinnamon cookies, especially when hot from the oven.  He noticed the stove was baking and a smile lit his face.

            "Grandma, are you making cinnamon cookies?" he asked.

            "No," Cornflower replied, "they're loaves of bread for the supper."

            Martin's face fell and his whiskers drooped.  "Aww…" he said softly.

            But Papa Matthias came to the rescue.  "Never fear, little one!  I happen to have one from the last batch tucked away somewhere."  Matthias pretended to search his body, and then looked at his grandson, whose eyes had gone extremely bright with hope and anticipation.  "By the fur, Martin, what's that behind your ear?" he exclaimed as he reached for Martin's left ear.  He pulled something out back from behind it – a cinnamon cookie!

            "Yay!  That was cool, Papa Matthias!  Thanks!" Martin eagerly bit into the cookie.

            Tess tried to hide a smile behind her paw while trying to look stern at her father-in-law.  "Matthias, right before supper?"

            The warrior mouse smiled warmly at them all.  "You're only young once, Tess."

            The moment was interrupted as Tarnell the otter came bursting in the door.


	3. Chapter 2

            The stallion galloped out of the clenching entanglement of the woods, stopping along a worn path.  The black stood, panting from exertion, listening and watching for really nothing in particular.  After a minute or so, the horse recovered and looked around at the area.  In the distance on his left was the wretched cart he'd been forced to pull for so many seasons.  The driver was nowhere around; he'd jumped down to the black after he feigned an injury to the leg.  The stallion had run off, dragging the driverless cart behind until he turned a corner sharply and it smashed against a tree, breaking the old leather harness and releasing the stallion from its life of work and misery. 

            His name was Siudek, and he feared no creature.

            Raising the proud head higher to see farther, the stallion caught a glimpse of Redwall Abbey.  The name of the building flashed in his mind and rang a bell.  He'd heard of it before.  A certain Matthias the warrior seemed to live there.  Some high and mighty mouse that woodlanders respected.  A sneer curled Siudek's lip as he spat in the ground.

            His name was Siudek, and he feared no creature.

            His mind wandered back to the time of Cluny the Scourge and his horde of rats.  They'd flooded the town with disease and caused such havoc upon both man and beast alike.  Everyone was grateful when they moved on.  Siudek remembered.  He carried them when he was younger, not nearly old enough to know.  All he'd known was that the awful stench of rats filled his nostrils and he couldn't get away until he broke the cart and returned to the human slave driver.  Hatred for the vermin filled his chocolate eyes as he stared at a beetle crawling in the grass.  Lifting a sinisterly sharp hoof, the black poised it above the bug and slammed down on the ground with little force.  He felt the beetle crumble beneath his weight.  The stallion stepped off to find a thoroughly dead bug.

            His name was Siudek, and he feared no creature.

            He remembered the otter at the river.  The woodlander had merely stared and stared, confused and baffled.  The creature had probably thought the horse hadn't noticed it.  Siudek had known.  He'd known all the time she was there.  He'd played dumb and then whisked off after he'd had his fill of the water.  Then the stallion remembered it said that it was from Redwall.  The Abbey had a reputation as being a sanctuary of some sort.  They nursed the sick and injured, fed the hungry, and housed the homeless.  

            His name was Siudek, and he feared no creature.

            The black wasn't for the woodlanders.  He wasn't against them.  He didn't like the vermin that often rose against them.  His heart was half light and half dark.  Roaming about in some middle ground, Siudek had remained neutral all his life.  He didn't know if he'd ever totally go for one side or the other.  He didn't really care.  He was the biggest thing in this forest.  To him, he was king!

            His name was Siudek, and he feared no creature!


	4. Chapter3

            Tarnell stood in the doorway of the gatehouse cottage, soaked in rain and panting heavily.  Matthias, Mattimeo, and Cornflower all went to meet the saturated otter as Tess stayed with Martin, who stared in semi-fright at Tarnell.  Mattimeo closed the door as Matthias helped Tarnell to a chair.  Cornflower brought the drenched creature a towel.

            "Dear me, Tarnell, you gave us all such a fright, bursting into the door like that," Matthias remarked.  "What was so important that you ran through rain to tell us?"

            Tarnell sat with the now-wet towel in her paws, still panting from the long run through the forest.  When she'd regained her breath, she looked up at the warrior mice standing over her.

            "I was fishing at the River Moss to bring something home for the family to eat tonight.  I nearly caught this grayling, see.  Very clever fellow; got away from me in the end and…"

            "Get on with it, otter!" Tess said softly but urgently.

            Tarnell nodded.  "Right.  Sorry.  Anyway, I was making my way back to Redwall when I smelled something.  It was a very curious scent the wind brought me, it was.  It was unlike any woodland creature's, I'll tell you that.  I stood there and stood for minutes.  But it was such a long stand and my knees were about to…"

            "Tarnell!" Matthias chided.  "You haven't told us anything other than you failed your fishing excavation and smelled something."

            "Sorry, sorry!"  the otter uttered.  She started up in a louder voice.  "Well, before too long, out of the forest came a horse.  Big one, too.  Big black stallion, he was.  I stood still as a stone, just watching him.  The stallion waded into the river and drank.  Very deeply, if I do say so myself.  Just gulping it down, swallow after swallow after…"

            "Tarnell!" everyone but Martin chorused.

            "Okay, fine!  Then, the breeze shifted and the black caught my scent.  He stared at me with those big brown eyes, even after I introduced myself.  Well, that just unnerved me altogether and I was quite relieved when he took off back in the direction he'd come.  Very strange, very odd," Tarnell finished.

            Everyone looked at one another.  Tess turned to Tarnell.  "Didn't say anything at all, did he?"

            The otter shook her head.  "No, nothing at all."

            "Hmm," Mattimeo sighed.  "It makes no sense at all.  Where did this stallion come from in the first place?"

            "Your guess is as good as any of ours, son," Matthias answered.  "But it isn't just the question of where he's from.  It's mostly what he wants.  Is he peaceable or will he threaten the forest or the Abbey?"

            Everyone shrugged.  Cornflower took the loaves out of the oven in the nick of time.  "Nearly burned them!" she exclaimed as she set them out to cool.

            "Tarnell, will you stay for supper?  We'll talk to Alf afterwards about this incident," Matthias invited.

            The otter stood.  "No, no thanks.  I must return to the Abbey to tend to that injured squirrel.  Coming along nicely, but you never know with these types of wounds."

            "I still haven't heard of what happened to that squirrel, Tarnell," Tess said, setting Martin on her lap.  "Care to enlighten me, matey?"

            Tarnell sat down once more with a small smile.  "Sure, all right.  Well, I was out on a stroll in Mossflower, see.  And then all of a sudden, I hear this cry for help.  It came directly above me, see.  I looked up and saw the squirrel, caught in a snare and turned upside down by the middle.  He'd tripped and fallen into the snare and had been hurled up there in the blink of an eye.  The squirrel told me he'd been in there for four days.  The nasty trap cut severely into his middle.  Blood everywhere; he was a mess.  But he's healing up quite nicely."

            Cornflower set the supper on the table:  Fresh loaves with sweet honey dip, carp baked in various spices, upside down apple cake, turnip and parsley soup, candied chestnuts, and strawberry cordial.  She looked up at Tarnell.  "Sure you won't stay?  There's plenty here."

            Tarnell looked at the food and sniffed deeply of the strong aroma the meal produced.  The otter licked her lips; she hadn't eaten since this morning.

            "Well, I'm sure I can't stay, but d'you think I might be able to take some on the run with me?" she asked.

            "Certainly, Tarnell," Cornflower replied.  She took a basket and placed two loaves with the leftover honey dip, a slice of carp and cake, a jar of turnip and parsley soup, ten candied chestnuts, and a beaker of cordial inside.  Tarnell accepted the basket gratefully and headed for the door.  

            "Thanks, mateys.  If I see or hear of the black anymore, I'll let you know," she called behind her.  A chorus of partings followed her as the otter made her way to the Abbey.  The family sat down to their supper in the cozy cottage as the rain continued to pour down.


End file.
